


We're screwed

by nerearobinsonn



Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: Adolescent Sexuality, Angst, Denial, Falling In Love, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Season 3, Zalex, they need to happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:16:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22023190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerearobinsonn/pseuds/nerearobinsonn
Summary: Alex smiled, and Zach couldn't help returning the gesture."We're screwed" Zach said, but he didn't mean it very seriously. He had the feeling that whenever he was with Alex, everything would be fine."Yeah" Alex agreed "we're screwed."
Relationships: Jessica Davis & Alex Standall, Zach Dempsey/Alex Standall
Comments: 2
Kudos: 49





	We're screwed

*PRESENT*

Zach is in class. The class was already done, but he has not yet risen from the chair. He is absorbed in his thoughts, until he heard whispers and it take him a second to realize that they belong to Monty and a friend of his.

"Fuck" says Monty "I'm shocked about Clay, he killed Bryce."

Zach knows that Monty says that phrase on purpose, to annoy him and, unfortunately, he enters the game.  
He turns and faces Monty.

"Shut up Monty, they still don't have anything against him, they don't know if it was really him."

Monty sketches a sly smile and says to Zach:

"And where were you that night, Zachy?"

It takes Zach a few seconds to respond, fleetingly remembering images of the night he thought he had forgotten.

"With a friend." He replies, which is not quite a lie, and he runs around to avoid talking more about that subject.

He listens Monty whisper "right, with a friend..." but it doesn't matter. Zach is too busy trying to forget certain memories of that night, and not precisely those that are related to Bryce's death. 

******************************************

Alex is at home, eating with his family. They were having an informal conversation when suddenly his father brings up the subject of the murder of his former classmate, Bryce Walker.

"They think they have found more clues about what happened that night." Drops his father.

Alex is aware that everyone is watching him, but he does not look up from his food. He does not believe he is able to look up and look at his family in the face without them reading the truth in his eyes.

"Where did you tell me you were that night, son?" his father asks suddenly, which surprises Alex, since he wasn't expecting that question.

He dares to raise his head from his food while saying:

"I already told you I was with Jess."

Fact that is true, but Alex was not telling him the whole truth, and his father knew it. But the fact is that his father only thought of Bryce and what his son could have done, while Alex thought of Bryce and what happened that night, but also thought of one more person.

**************************************

*FLASHBACK*

Zach was nervous about everything that had happened that night. The welcome game had been crazy and the fucking Bryce had broken his knee. Goodbye to his dreams and goodbye to his college scholarship. He couldn't do sports anymore.

He felt very helpless, alone there, in his room, lying in his bed without being able to do anything, looking sideways at the crutches he would have to wear every day for the following months. 

His life had been ruined in a second.

He was absorbed in his thoughts when someone knocked on his door. Zach, imagining that she would be his mother, didn't even bother to answer. Then they knocked on the door again, and Zach feeling impatient, said:

"You can go in here, mom."

Only that the person behind the door was not his mother.

It was Alex.

Zach got out of his bed as fast as he could because of the impression he had of seeing his friend there, and with the rapidity of the movement he felt pain on his bad knee and bent down taking it while releasing a cue.

Alex was as quick as he could to help him and when their skins touched, they both felt a cramp and pulled back quickly.

"God, I'm sorry." Alex said embarrassed.

"Not quiet... Fucking Bryce!" Zach exclaimed, unable to contain himself, still holding his bad knee.

"Yeah, fucking Bryce..." Alex whispered, unable of looking away from Zach.

Their eyes met and stared at each other a few moments before Zach cut the moment with a question:

"Well... and what are you doing here?"

"I..." Alex hesitated. "I wanted to make sure you were fine. You know, after what happened to you in the game... about your knee. 

Zach was touched by his friend's gesture and not knowing why, his heart jumped.

"It's very kind of you..." he replied to Alex "uh... I'm fine. This, uh... thanks for coming."

Why was it so hard to find the words? He was just talking to Alex, for God's sake.

Alex didn't take his eyes off Zach's and replied without hesitation.

"It's what you would have done for me. Well, in fact, you already did it last year, in case you had forgotten about the rehabilitation classes, the little walks walking at a snail's pace, the classes in the gym or the times you came to my home to see me in my room."

Alex smiled, and Zach couldn't help returning the gesture.

"We're screwed" Zach said, but he didn't mean it very seriously. He had the feeling that whenever he was with Alex, everything would be fine.

"Yeah" Alex agreed "we are screwed."

Suddenly the two of them were aware of how close they were. Without realizing it, they had stayed in front of each other, sitting both on the top of Zach's bed.

"Well, now that I have seen that you are perfectly well, I should leave before my father starts to suspect..." Alex began.

"No." Zach cut him while he took his friend's arm. "Do not go yet."

And without knowing very well what they were doing, the two of them approached their heads at once and before they knew it, they were kissing.

The kiss started being soft and slow, and for the two of them it was weird, since they had never kissed another boy, they had only kissed girls. But as time went by, their kiss intensified and became faster and hotter. Their tongues were found and they couldn't stop. It was the best kiss they had ever given.

But the kiss was cut when Alex unwittingly touched Zach's knee, and he let out a groan. They parted and while Zach was cursing his knee, Alex couldn't take his eyes off him.

Then he understood everything.

His mind went back, almost a year ago, at the one time he was in the locker room. The physical contact he had with Zach... Why he didn't feel anything when he kissed Jessica or even when he had sex with her... And all his effort to go see Bryce's prostitute, and the need he had in feeling pleasure with her, although he did not get it.

All the pieces of the puzzle began to fit while he looked at Zach, but it was just when he was about to speak that his cell phone started ringing.

Zach raised his head and stared at Alex, while still clinging to his knee. At the same time, Alex took his cell phone out of his pocket and frowned when he saw who was calling him.

Without looking at Zach, he picked up the phone:

"Yes?"

Jessica's voice reached his ears loud and altered, and Alex realized that something was wrong.

"Alex, can you sneak away?" Jess asked him. "I need you."

Her friend needed him, and although they had not got along very well in the last weeks, he was not going to let his friend suffer.

But what had just happened with Zach...

He looked at Zach for a moment and the two boys stared at each other.

Jess kept talking on the phone explaining to Alex what was wrong.

Alex, biting some bullets, said yes to Jessica, that in ten minutes he would be at her home.

When he hung up, he looked up again and found Zach, who was still looking at him.

"This..." Alex started "I guess you've heard it, I have to go, but..."

He didn't dare to say more.

"Yes" Zach said, too quickly. "Calm down, go away, everything is fine. My knee can hold."

Zach gestured with his thumb and forced a smile. Alex looked at him suspiciously. But he said nothing. He got up from Zach's bed and, without looking back, said goodbye to his friend.

The two of them had chosen the easy way. The two of them had chosen to ignore what had happened minutes before. They had chosen to pretend that those moments had never happened. They could not, nor did they want to accept it.

**************************************************

It has been ten minutes since Alex left, and Zach keeps spinning what has happened. And worst of all, Alex was gone without saying anything.

Zach is fed up with everything, first the game, then the knee and now this. He Couldn't take it anymore. His feelings were too confusing. He is sad. He is furious. He is confused.

Without thinking very well about what he is doing, he gets out of bed, grabs the crutches and trying to make as little noise as possible, leaves his room towards the front door of his house.

He has heard enough of Alex and Jessica's conversation, and he knows that Bryce is on the town's pier.

And that's where he is going too.

Ten minutes later and with enough pain because of his knee, Zach locates Bryce at the dock and parks the car a few meters away. He stands a few seconds looking forward, then sighs and decides to get out of the car, hoping that Alex and Jessica do not appear there.

At first, Bryce stares straight ahead, probably hoping to see Jessica, and then he is surprised when he sees someone on crutches and much taller than the girl.

"Zach?" Bryce asks.

Zach doesn't even deign to answer and punches him on his face. Bryce is surprised, but it doesn't take two seconds to counterattack.

The two boys face each other in a violent fight and despite the fact that Zach is injured, he has always been stronger and taller than Bryce, and that along with the anger that he feels, he wins the battle and leaves Bryce in soil.

Zach doesn't feel better after this, and he looks at Bryce for a few seconds from above. Then he turns around and starts to leave, but that's when Bryce shouts:

"Go with your girlfriend, Chloe!" spits Bryce. "Have you already fucked her like I did?"

This comment enrages Zach more than he thought, and he turns around as quickly as he can to face Bryce once more.

Chloe was a wonderful girl, and Zach had helped her a lot, but only as a friendship. He didn't want anything with that girl and much less he didn't want Bryce to talk like that about them.

"Chloe and I are friends." Zach yelles at Bryce, putting his good leg on top of one of Bryce's. "You've never known what friendship is. And you never will."

After telling him that, Zach stomped Bryce right on his knee, and he had the satisfaction of knowing by the sound of Bryce's leg made, that he had broken it.

Zach left with his crutches, leaving Bryce howling in pain. But at that moment, he didn't feel pitty for him. He had it more than deserved. And at least he had been able to take revenge on what he had done to his own knee and, in addition, distract himself from his thoughts about Alex.

****************************************************************

Alex and Jessica watched Zach's car march with the headlights off.

What was Zach doing at this time of the night at the town's dock, right where Bryce was supposed to be?

Alex thought for a moment that Zach would have heard his conversation on the phone with Jess, but why would he go there?

Well, he was about to find out.

When they got out of the car, they agreed that Alex would go first, to see that Bryce hadn't planned anything weird against the girl.

That was when he approached and saw the boy lying in a rare and bloody position.

Was this Zach's work?

"What are you doing here?" Bryce asked.

Alex, instead of answering his question, answered him with another question that interested him more.

"What happened to you? Who did this to you?"

Meanwhile, Jessica had already arrived at Alex's side and Bryce, seeing her, began to laugh.

"Fucking Zach." He answered with contempt.

Alex didn't like that tone, but Jessica came forward changing the subject.

"You wanted to see me, well here I am."

Bryce took an object out of his pants pocket and explained to Jess that this was a tape where he apologized, and asked her to please take it.

Jessica reluctantly took it, and when the two of them were about to leave, Bryce started screaming.

"Hey! Don't leave me here! We are in November and I am next to the river. I'm going to freeze!"

Jessica, despite her pleas, did not want to help him and she continued walking towards the car. Alex began to follow her, but Bryce started calling him. The boy turned and when he saw him lying there, with blood and his leg in a very bad state, he felt sorry for the boy. It was not right to leave a human being, even if it was Bryce, there dying. Also, if he dies, Zach would go to jail.

Alex began to help him and managed to lift him, but it was then when Bryce went crazy and began to shriek that he was going to kill Zach and that he was not only going to destroy his knee, but also his life. Alex started to get nervous and shouted:

"You're not going to do anything to Zach!"

But Bryce was still determined that he was going to kill him. And he also started shouting things at Jessica, who had turned after hearing the screams.

Alex at that moment understood one thing: he wasn't going to let anyone else die. He wasn't going to let Bryce hurt Jessica. Or Zach.

Then he understood what he had to do.

Alex looked into Bryce's eyes, and without even thinking about it, he whispered:

"You've hurt everyone I've loved."

And immediately he pushed him into the river, without being aware that he had just killed Bryce Walker.

*************************************************************

*PRESENT*

They were all gathered in Clay's and Justin's room, waiting for Ani and Tony.

By now everyone knew that the plan had gone perfectly. That they had declared Monty guilty and that Alex and Jessica were saved.

Alex and Zach were sitting at a table, facing each other. Since that night, they had spoken normally, as if the kiss had not existed. They treated each other like the two friends they were before, although there was a bit of tension.

The difference now was that the tension had increased.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Zach whispered, getting closer to Alex so that the others couldn't hear him.

Alex didn't know what to say, so he shrugged.

Zach then changed the subject, although not for a more pleasant one.

"Is it true that you asked Tyler for a gun?"

Alex looked up and realized that Zach was looking him in the eyes and he was worried about him.

Then he decided to tell him the truth.

"I left a note explaining why I did it..." Alex confessed.

He didn't need to say anything else. Zach already knew what was coming next.

They were silent for a few seconds, looking at each other, until Zach spoke somewhat nervous:

"I think we should be those kind of friends who tell each other everything." He said. Then he looked up, smiling. "Well, maybe not about masturbation and that stuff but..."

Zach left the sentence there and they both giggled nervously. The two of them knew perfectly well that this phrase was with second intentions. And they both knew they should talk about it. They smiled and the two knew that this conversation would not end there.

************************************

*TWO WEEKS AFTER*

Zach and Alex were alone in the gym, where a few weeks ago Zach had confessed to Alex that he had been Bryce's killer, and Alex knew it was a lie, basically because Bryce's killer was him. And even though Alex had told Zach not to confess, Zach went behind him, but luckily everything had gone well. But that is another story.

Now they were sitting in sweaty seats as they had spent the afternoon training. The two boys were lost in their thoughts and Alex thought the moment to speak had arrived.

"Well... About what happened a few weeks ago..." Alex began, leaving the phrase in the air.

Zach suddenly raised his head and to Alex's surprise, smiled.

"About time." He snapped, without losing his smile.

Alex was stunned without knowing very well what to answer, and Zach took the floor.

"Look... I don't know what happened, all I know is that I liked it."

Alex, surprised at this statement from his friend, was speechless. He did not know what to say.

Zach continued:

"I don't know what's going to happen to us, or to my future, or to this crappy world," said Zach. "All I know for sure is that I want to be with you, Alex Standall."

It took Alex a few seconds to recover from Zach's words. All he could say was:

"How can you want to be with me? If I am a kil..."

Zach put a finger on his lips, and said:

"I would have done the same for you."

Alex froze. He could only babble:

"How…?"

"Jessica." Zach replied. "She explained everything to me. She explained me that you killed Bryce when he began to say that he was going to kill me. And that he was also going to kill Jess."

Jessica. Right. Being the girl's best friend again had these consequences.

"Damn Jess" Alex whispered, but this time smiling.

Zach smiled back and said:

"Well," he put a hand on Alex's leg. "I would have done the same for you."

Alex couldn't contain himself anymore and leaned down to kiss him.

They kissed each other, which this time was full of promises. The promise that they would love each other, that they would take care of each other, that they would try.

And the promise that, no matter what could happen, they would always be together and take care of each other.

"We're screwed, remember?" Said Zach.

Alex smiled at the memory, and replied:

"Yeah, we're screwed, but we're screwed together."

And they dive into another kiss. 

Alex and Zach. Zach and Alex.

Forever.


End file.
